Never Gone
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: AU. When the mercenaries fleeing the Last World decide to spare Zesha and Zepha from the clutches of death, tensions later arise between each other and their former enemies. Meanwhile, said former enemies try their hardest to keep their love hidden, but with all of the tension of becoming new Kings of the Gurak and trying to fix things with the others, they may undo themselves.
1. One Decision

**Author note: I do not own the Last Story. Or Zesha and Zepha.**

**Warning: AU, ZeshaxZepha, other pairings, takes place during and post-game, spoilers**

**IMPORTANT: THIS WILL HAVE AN INCEST PAIRING IN MY FIC, SO FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T LIKE IT, JUST DON'T READ IT-I mean, there's no point in flaming, really, and it's up to the writer of what they want to write... THANK YOU.**

* * *

_**Never Gone**_

* * *

_1. One Decision_

* * *

One decision.

That alone can change a lot.

That one decision that Zesha made after his brother fell was to avenge him.

He could have stayed by Lord Zangurak's side. But no, he wished to avenge his brother, and bathe his hands with the mercenaries' blood.

It was obvious to everyone that had faced him that he was in close relations with his brother-helping him up after the fight at the Gurak Military Fortress, completely in sync with each other during battle.

But no one realized how exactly _close _they were with each other.

Until now.

_"I will avenge my brother's death!"_

Zesha's threat, Mirania soon realized, was the cry of the most desperate. The rage in his eyes was one that would not, could not, stop.

Because Zesha loved Zepha not as a brother, but as a lover.

The healing mage should have figured this out earlier-usually she was able to tell these sorts of things quite easily. For example, she could obviously see that Zael loved Calista, and Syrenne and Lowell probably loved each other despite their differences and such.

But she had never expected this between the two brothers. But then again, those encouraging actions between each other _(helping each other get up if they fell, supporting the other's body weight if they got pretty injured and all)_ and those looks at each other _(they weren't ones of just determination to go and kill the humans, they were also determined not to die so that they wouldn't lose each other)_ basically told it all.

And if that didn't tell it all to those that were too stupid to see it, then Zesha's overwhelming rage did.

They thought they took down Zesha after the first try. They really did.

That cost them Lowell.

And as much as Mirania hated this fighting, as much as everyone didn't want to fight anymore, Zesha wanted to keep fighting.

Scream.

Slash.

Scream some more.

Recover.

Repeat the cycle and so on.

Mirania thought that the cycle would never end.

* * *

Syrenne then gave the final blow, stabbing Zesha right through his armor and into his abdomen. She twisted the sword, widening the wound as Zesha let out a breathy gasp.

Syrenne glared right into Zesha's eyes, before pulling out the sword and letting him collapse onto the ground.

"That's for Lowell, you scumbag." She snapped, before turning to the others. Zesha wanted to scream, to fight back against this, but he couldn't find the energy. He didn't have the energy to go on any longer.

The words of the others were lost to him, his thoughts going straight to Zepha.

_My brother...is he...truly..._

He couldn't get himself to say 'dead' to himself.

But he had to know. He had to.

So, with the last of his ability, he teleported himself to where Zepha had fallen. Ending up only a few paces away from him, he weakly crawled to his brother, who still had the dagger stuck in his chest. Zesha paused, before flinging an arm over his brother's chest, and pulling out the dagger in one swift movement.

"Brother..."Zesha threw the dagger aside, one of his hands grabbing one of Zepha's hands and putting it over Zepha's chest wound to apply pressure, while Zesha's other hand touched his brother's blood-covered face. The mage twin's eyes were closed, seemingly devoid of life.

As soon as Zesha touched his face, though, Zepha's eyes weakly opened, making eye contact with him. Zepha coughed a bit, Zesha feeling Zepha continue to put his hand over the chest wound, before speaking.

"Z-Zesha...? How..."

Zesha shook his head weakly, putting the hand he had on his brother's face over his mouth. "Don't speak," The sworld-wielding twin hissed back, looking around to see if anyone was watching. No one was there. "You...you're dying...I'm dying..."

Zepha shook his head, trying to get up, but he couldn't. "Damn it..." He turned his head to face Zesha completely, nudging Zesha's hand out of the way somehow. "At least we're...dying together..."He brought his other hand to the hand that had been on his face, the two interlocking fingers. Both of them gazed at each other quietly, silently, saying nothing.

There was no need for last words for each other. Especially if they were dying right beside each other. Their actions quite often spoke louder than any of their words. No love-laced letters or sweet nothings needed to be whispered. They just needed the presence of each other, maybe a few handholds, perhaps a kiss or so during their private time together whenever they had any. But here and now...all they needed was the presence of each other, and not much else.

If they were dying, at least they were dying together.

Shouts and screams were heard from somewhere _(they weren't sure where, but they didn't care at this point-they were dying, after all). _THen silence, then screaming, then fighting.

And all the time, they just lay there dying together. Until-

_"We can't just leave them like this!"_

_"They killed Lowell!"_

_"Don't you mean temporary, sweetheart-"_

_"Shut up! They could have killed you for good! They could be dead any moment, now!"_

_"Syrenne, calm down...Zael is right, we can't just leave them here-"_

_"Don't expect me to be saving their arses!"_

_"But-"_

_"Guys, we have no time to arguing about this! We're saving them whether you like it or not! We just...we just can't let them die..."_

Zesha's vision was getting hazy, the words becoming mangled in his ears as he tried to stay conscious. But his body disobeyed, three little words the only thing he could register from his own brother as he lost consciousness.

_"I love you._


	2. New Reality

_2. New Reality_

* * *

Zepha couldn't remember the last time he woke up and felt so sore.

He couldn't even remember, at first, what happened before now, and why he was in this hospital room with Zesha asleep in a comfortable bed to his left. After realizing his efforts to even sit up were in vain, he closed his eyes, lying back down in the bed and running one of his hands over the side of his face, then his neck, then his chest-

Oh. The stab wound. That must be why he had bandages wrapping that area. Yes, that must be why...

He tasted blood on his lips-he supposed that his lips must have been cut a bit during that fight with those mercenaries.

Mercenaries...one of them actually stabbed him in the chest with that dagger, didn't he? Yes, the one with the eyepatch-Zepha had not been expecting that mercenary's attack to hit him at all.

His train of thought was disturbed when he heard movement shifting to his left, and Zepha turned to see Zesha slowly awakening.

"Br-brother...?" Zesha weakly turned his head to make eye contact with Zepha quietly. "Where...are we?"

Zepha looked around again, before turning to his brother. "I...don't really know. I just woke up..."

Zesha nodded quietly, saying nothing for a moment. Before he could say anything else, though, that was when both brothers heard the door open.

In stepped Lady Calista Arganan, looking alive and well, a contrast to her face, which was filled with concern She closed the door behind her quietly, glancing at the two twins, before speaking.

"I see that you're awake now..." She trailed off quietly, brushing a lock of silvery-white hair out of her face. Her eyes gazed at them gently. There was no fear in them, or anger, but only concern that was seen behind the calm facade. "How are you feeling, both of you?"

Zesha and Zepha didn't say anything for a moment, before Zesha spoke slowly. "Incredibly sore, Lady Calista, for sure." He then winced in pain. "And a headache for myself..."

Zepha wanted to use his healing magic to relieve his brother of such a headache, but he just couldn't find the energy to do so.

"How long have we been...unconscious?" Zepha finally managed after a moment. He wondered if he was getting a headache as well, but tried his best to ignore it as Calista responded.

"You've both been unconscious for a full week."

Both brothers glanced at each other, and Zepha could see mild surprise on his brother's face. Zepha was sure he was mirroring his expression as well-being knocked out temporarily, for a moment, was one thing, but...for an entire week? Were their injuries so severe for that to truly happen?

That was when something else came to both of their minds, but Zesha spoke up about it first this time.

"What has become of Lord Zangurak? Is he...?"

Calista winced at this. She looked away from the both of them temporarily, before she looked up at them, speaking.

"Lord Zangurak is dead."

There was silence in the room.

Zangurak? Dead? Neither of the brothers couldn't believe it.

"H-how?" Zepha choked out, staring at Calista as if she had just fortold his demise. "He had the power of the Outsider...more powerful than Zael-he had your Arganan blood infused with the Outsider in his arm...how?"

Calista didn't answer. She then spoke, changing subjects.

"Because of Lord Zangurak now dead, we will need someone to lead as King of the Gurak...and...you two would know best as of how the Gurak Continent is run since you are his right hand men, so I was thinking that perhaps you both could-"

_"Get out."_

Calista looked up to see Zesha, sitting up in bed despite his wounds and glaring at her. His eyes contained a burning rage, threatening to overflow and burn anything in its path. Calista felt herself take a step back, out of fright, completely fearful _(just like when she'd first been afraid of them when she first encountered them so long ago)._

Zesha continued to glare at her, but said nothing. Calista, knowing that she couldn't win against this, stepped out of the room.

Zesha let out a sigh, lying back down. Zepha was silent, before speaking.

"Lady Calista saved our lives. You didn't have to be so rude to her, brother."

Zesha frowned a bit at this, biting his lower lip. "...she is our enemy."

"Was. No enemy would save our lives for no reason..."

"I know that! She saved us so she can use us!" Zesha let out a growl, before he let out a groan in pain, turning so that he wasn't facing his brother. "I apologize, it's just-"

"I know you're frustrated, brother, but...we can't let this destroy us. We have to lead our people to...prosperity." Zepha coughed a bit, one of his arms sliding off the bed and extending towards Zesha, trying to reach him. "...We made a vow, remember? That we would do anything to make sure our people would be in prosperity. If we give up now..."

Zesha turned towards Zepha again, saying nothing as he let his arm slide off the bed. Zepha winced at how bandaged it was-there was even some congealed blood on the bandages themselves. Zesha must have been through a rough battle with those mercenaries, truly must have...

"Brother?"

Zesha had lifted his arm to reach Zepha's hand. Zepha couldn't help but smile back a little, taking his brother's hand in his.


	3. Dance

_3. Dance _

The two brothers took a while to recover physically. It took them another week for all of the injuries to somewhat heal, and another week for them to be fully healed. While recovering from injuries, the two had figured out a peace treaty with Lady Calista to end the fighting between Lazulis and the Gurak Continent for good.

Of course, this didn't mean either of the brothers were happy about this. They were recovering, and once they had fully recovered, they literally had all these duties as Kings of the Gurak thrown at them. The two were swamped with paperwork and other things for a good while, the two unable to really talk about what they wanted to talk about (how they felt about all this, what they wish they wanted to do but didn't have time for) and only had time to talk about what they had to talk about (trading routes and stuff with Lazulis, keeping things in order, etcetera, etcetera).

This also meant that they barely had any time for each other. Only at night, when they were departing to bed (which was rare because sometimes they were forced to pull all-nighters to get certain sorts of paperwork done, which was really annoying) could they spend any time, and they were too tired to do any of that because they would be exhausted.

It was like they had no freedom left, trapped in their roles as Kings.

The next they knew was that they were preparing for a ball to celebrate the peace treaty.

And balls meant dancing.

Sadly, both brothers had no idea how to dance, as previously being right-hand men of the late Lord Zangurak meant that they were usually standing at the sidelines. So, Calista had decided to try to instruct them herself, with the assistance of Sir Therius (because Zael had gotten sick with a bout of a fever somehow).

"Lord Zesha, Lord Zepha?"

Zepha blinked out of his train of thought to see Calista speaking, her and Therius no longer dancing.

"Do you think you can try now?"

Before Zepha could ask Calista and Therius to repeat their explanation of the waltz, Zesha spoke up insead.

"We can. Together."

Therius blinked a bit. "Together? You are both male, would you not require female partners…?"

"We can alternate roles for this time." Zesha muttered hastily. "Brother, since you were not paying as much attention, you can take the woman's part this time around."

Zepha stared at him. "I-I was paying atten-"

"You were staring off into space."

Despite Zesha's obviously harsh-sounding tone of voice, Zepha could see reassurance laced into his eyes. _It's easy. Just follow my lead._

Zepha acted along accordingly to his brother's tone of voice, biting his lower lip briefly before speaking. "Very well, brother." He turned to Calista, Therius, and the minstrels that were supplying music for the rehearsal. "We will dance. Bring the music…"

The two brothers stood in front of each other quietly, Zepha putting one hand on Zesha's shoulder, the other about his back while Zesha put a hand on his brother's shoulder and the other about his waist. The music started, and they began to dance.

There was this awkwardness at first, the two stepping on each other's feet more than once, but eventually they figured out the steps. It was mechanical at first, but it slowly grew smoother, flowing more with every step and turn they took.

The music somehow felt like it was moving faster as soon as the two brothers switched their positions; Zepha playing the male lead and Zesha being the female lead. Again, there was this awkwardness, but they were able to transition what steps they needed to do quickly, without too much stepping on each other's feet. The music swirled faster and faster, the brothers barely keeping up, until-

-…The two hit the floor with a crash on top of each other, Zesha ending up straddling his brother's hips. Both brothers stared at each other, mortified, before they tried to recompose themselves and help each other get up.

Calista and Therius rushed over to them, also helping them stand. "Are you alright?" Therius asked.

Zepha shook his head, backing away. "I…I believe I am not feeling well. I'll be resting now, if any of you need me so urgently…" He then turned, walking as fast as he could without trying to look too embarrassed about the whole situation.

He was eventually stopped in the hallway when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder from behind. Zepha turned to see Zesha, who looked concerned. "You're stressed, brother."

"I cannot help it," Zepha replied, letting his head hang and avoiding his twin's gaze. "We're Kings of the Gurak now, Zesha. We have no time to relax at this point, but surely after all this is done with we will be able to find-"

_"No more."_ Zepha felt Zesha pull his chin upwards so that they were now staring into each other's eyes. "I can't wait…"

The lull of his brother's voice was start to sorely tempt Zepha to give in for once-neither of them had any time for themselves besides sleeping, and they were getting sick of it, after all. But here? Now?

Zepha bit his lower lip briefly, his eyes fighting to escape Zesha's own as he looked around to see if there was anyone watching-there was no one, but…

"Not here." Zepha breathed. "Not _here."_

Zesha pulled back slightly, letting go of Zepha's chin only to grasp his hand below and squeeze it gently. "Then to our own chambers. We have much to catch up on."

The two teleported into the guest room of Lazulis Castle that they'd been staying at, stripping off clothing before heading to the ensuite attached to their room. Both didn't hesitate to get into the warm, bubbly water of the bath once it was ready-they needed to relax a bit in some way. Zepha could barely remember the last time they'd bathed together, probably sometime during the war of the Outsider when they had just a sliver of downtime in-between battles with the humans.

Zepha heard Zesha let out a content sigh, happy to be with his twin. He shifted towards Zepha, a small smile on that face.

"Isn't that better…?"

Zepha paused, before nodding quietly, letting his body relax in the warm water.

"Better." He admitted quietly, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes, Zesha was right in front of him, pausing for a moment before kissing him. Zepha, surprised, kissed back gently, his hands gripping his brother by the shoulders. He eventually broke the kiss, and he felt his face heat up as he shyly looked away from his brother for a moment.

Zesha was smiling as Zepha turned to face him afterwards.

"And I should suppose that helped?"

Zepha nodded, a small smile cracking into view on his face.

"Yes."


	4. Peeking

_4. Peeking_

Zael felt really bad about doing this, but otherwise he might not be able to figure out what was going on

You see, Zael wasn't actually sick. He just faked it. With the help of Lowell and his other friends, he was able to seem convincingly sick enough so that he didn't need a doctor but was forced to stay in bed for a little bit. That was the easy part of his plan.

The hardest part so far had been to persuade Therius to dance with Calista.

"You don't mind me dancing with Lady Calista, Zael...?"

"Of course not, Therius. You're one of my best friends-I mean, I trust you, and-" Zael had faked a convincing, sickly-sounding cough here, "I did hear from General Asthar that you were a good dancer."

Therius had blushed of embarrassment, claiming that he wasn't _that_ good, but Zael had insisted.

Dang, if there was one thing Zael had to admit since marrying Calista (and of course, this meant he ended up becoming Count of Lazulis as well as being a Knight), it was that he had gotten better at political things like 'negotiations' and 'speeches' and 'persuasion,' mostly the latter mainly because Calista helped him with that since he married her and became the Count. Despite this, though, Calista was the one doing all the main duties for now, as he was still trying to get used to being a Count and fufilling those duties while also being a Knight.

And because he had gotten so much better at persuasion, Therius had agreed to dance with Calista to help teach the Gurak brothers to dance for the upcoming ball.

So while the brothers were gone, Zael snuck into their room.

He knew it wasn't nice, and he knew it wasn't really a very Count-like thing to do, but he kind of had to know. He knew that Syrenne had a deep grudge for the brothers, especially Zesha, for temporarily killing Lowell but other than that he didn't know much.

So, diary hunting he went. He remembered walking in on Zesha writing in a journal, so maybe if he found that he could find something that would give a hint to as what was going on...?

He eventually found it in a nearby drawer, and he read the latest entry.

_It's been a while since I've written in this journal. I barely have any time, nowadays. Being King of the Gurak is not easy-I wonder sometimes how Lord Zangurak managed it, but no matter...I'll find a way to deal with it. Somehow._

_The one thing I'm more worried about than managing the Gurak Continent is that I could be found out if I'm not careful. Found out about what? _

_...I don't want people knowing that I'm in love with my-_

That was when Zael heard footsteps. He quickly put the journal back in its drawer before he hid underneath the bed.

Footsteps of two Gurak Kings walked in, and there was silence. Then, clothing and armor fell to the ground, discarded as if they were broken dolls, before footsteps resounded, heading towards the ensuite and closing the door.

...not completely closing the door. There was a small crack between the door and doorframe. Zael considered listening in, so he decided to do so...

_"Isn't that better…?"_

It was Zesha that had spoken. The two were relaxing in the bath, and Zael guessed that they had probably been stressing out about the ball coming up.

Zepha paused, before nodding quietly, letting his body relax in the warm water.

_"Better."_ He admitted quietly, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes, Zesha was right in front of him, pausing for a moment before kissing him. Zepha, looking surprised, kissed back gently, his hands gripping his brother by the shoulders. He eventually broke the kiss, and he shyly looked away from his brother for a moment.

Zesha was smiling as Zepha turned to face him afterwards.

_"And I should suppose that helped?"_

Zepha nodded, a small smile cracking into view on his face.

_"Yes."_

Zael backed away from the door slowly, before he quickly found the journal again and read the rest.

_...I don't want people knowing that I'm in love with my brother. That's what I worry about the most. If anyone finds out..what would they say? Or do? Our own people..I'm sure there are at least some that will not be happy that their Kings are in love with each other. I'm worried._

_I have to go-I have dance lessons awaiting me to prepare for the ball._

_-Zesha_

Zael left the room as quickly as possible after putting the journal back.

What was he going to do...?

* * *

Lowell had been getting more concerned lately about Syrenne.

Yes, he was alive, which was great. He and Syrenne had gotten together, and together they were working at Ariela's tavern to raise enough money so they could start their own bar.

...The bad news was that Syrenne still seemed to be affected by Lowell's death, no matter how temporary it was. The strong drinking buddy and love of his life was breaking down from that, drinking more and more to try to forget the pain. Lowell had tried all he could-talking with her one-on-one, getting friends to try to help, but nothing seemed to be working.

He wasn't sure what to do. So he went to see his murderer to talk things over.

Zesha was visibly surprised to see the ice mage standing at the door.

"Can we talk? Please?"

Zesha let him in, to his surprise. The two sat across from each other and they were silent, before Zesha spoke up.

"So...you really are still alive."

Lowell shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "Yeah, I am. And you're still alive, too. And you and your brother are now Kings of the Gurak, right?"

The other nodded. "Correct. What is it that you came here for? To talk about?"

The ice mage swallowed, folding his hands together. He was sure Zesha didn't mean to look and sound intimidating. He betted that the King of the Gurak was thinking that Lowell was here to get some sweet revenge for being killed or something.

Well, that wasn't what he came here for, obviously.

"It's about Syrenne."

Zesha seemed to wince at the mention of Syrenne. "You're aware that we're talking about the person who almost killed me?"

"Yeah. I am." He bit his lower lip, before speaking. "Look, I know that you probably hate us. I wouldn't be surprised if you still did. I get that. But...I just need to ask you about one thing. And it's to make amends with Syrenne, please. She's been derailing since the last time we all battled each other, and I can't afford to lose her. She's not going to be back to normal like everyone else until you both make amends, I just know it."

Lowell felt like crumpling to the ground as he watched Zesha's face turn to confusion, then something stoic. Was his effort to reach out becoming fruitless?

"I'm just asking for this one time. Please."

There was silence. Lowell was afraid to look up, in fear that Zesha was glaring, angry about what had happened back then in the Last World. Instead, there was a soft sigh, and then one sentence.

"I will try."


	5. Between the Sheets

_5. Between the Sheets_

Zesha truly enjoyed these times when it was just him and his brother, cuddling with each other between the sheets. It was nighttime, and the two were just simply cuddling with each other. Or was it already early in the morning, but the sun hadn't risen yet? Zesha wasn't sure, and he frankly didn't care at the moment.

Zepha let out a quiet sigh, nuzzling his brother.

Zesha blinked a bit, nuzzling his brother in return. "Is there something that concerns you, brother?"

His twin hesitated, before speaking.

"You never told me of what transpired between you and the 'raging alcoholic,' brother. What happened?"

Zesha winced at the mention of Syrenne, before explaining quietly to his brother. The meeting with her had _not _gone well. Once he had stepped into the tavern, Syrenne just kept throwing bottles of alcohol at him until he left, screaming at him to get out and to go die in a pit. Well, honestly he hadn't really been sure what she had been saying. He had been trying to be reasonable, telling her that they needed to work out these past things and that grudges and drowning in alcohol were not going to get anywhere, but she had refused to listen.

He had apologized to Lowell about it all, and told him to keep her under watch so that she didn't hurt herself by accident or went and drowned herself completely in alcohol. That was all he could do.

"I feel helpless." Zesha felt so stressed by the issue of Syrenne, loitering around in the back of his mind. "I can barely think straight when I have that person screaming at me in my head. I don't know what to do..."

Zepha frowned a bit, snuggling a bit closer towards his brother. "Then ignore it. Ignore her. What she has turned into is not your fault. You did not force her to start drinking, you did not force her to bear a grudge against you. She made those choices to do those things. If she doesn't want us in her life, then fine, she'll get what she wants."

Zesha nuzzled against his brother quietly, saying nothing as he laid his head against his brother's bare chest, listening to his heartbeat. He knew his brother was right about that-it was Syrenne's choice to simply try to drink her grief away, to bear a grudge against her former enemies. But..at the same time, he felt guilty. Like...as if he could do something about it. But he wasn't sure what to do, exactly, and it hurt.

He didn't know why he felt this pity for the young woman and her ice mage lover. Maybe because they were trying so hard not to lose themselves? Just like what happened with him and Zepha during their time in the Last World?

That was when the two heard knocking at their door, and then Therius' voice was speaking, muffled because of the door.

"Lord Zepha? Lord Zesha? Lady Calista and Lord Zael are waiting to see you in the dining room..."

Zepha cursed, sitting up and hurriedly getting dressed, Zesha doing the same as he barked at the door.

"Tell them we will be there, soon." He snapped. He heard footsteps-Therius' footsteps-fading away. Zesha looked at himself in the mirror as he grabbed a comb, attempting to comb out several knots in his hair. He hated the fact that his hair got knotted easily. Zepha, meanwhile, always had perfect, silky and thick hair that never got into knots...

Zesha blinked out of those thoughts. Right now he had to focus on getting dressed and looking presentable enough without anyone noticing anything.

"Brother?"

Zesha was about to leave the room when he felt Zepha's hand on his shoulder, before he felt himself getting pulled backwards. Zesha turned to see Zepha, who appeared to be trying to hide an amused look.

"What is it, brother...?"

Zepha smirked. "You might want to take a second look in the mirror. Specifically look towards your neck..."

Zesha stared, before he turned to face a nearby mirror. Indeed, close to his collarbone, there was a slightly purplish mark. He felt his face heat up as Zepha chuckled a bit at his expression.

Right. He forgot about the fact that his brother literally bit his neck in a fit during some passionate making out between them late last night. Right...

Zesha gave Zepha a playful glare. "If this is still noticeable by the time I'm done covering it up, you're going to pay for this..."

"You can always just say you were reading a heavy book while lying on your back in bed last night and dropped the book on your collarbone by accident..." Zepha trailed off playfully in response, still grinning.

Zesha laughed a bit at this, before covering up the bruise with some makeup. They didn't have too much time to waste after it-they had yet another day of paperwork to get through, after all.


End file.
